Lightning Cup

The Lightning Cup is a cup in the Mario Kart series, as well as Mario Power Tennis. Its first appearance is in Mario Kart: Super Circuit where it was placed between the Flower Cup and Star Cup. It is absent in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, but since Mario Kart DS, it makes a reappearance as a cup with tracks from past Mario Kart games. The emblem of the cup is the Lightning. It mainly features tracks from the Star Cup and the Special Cup, though Mario Kart DS featured a sole track from the Mario Kart: Super Circuit Lightning Cup and Mario Kart Wii featured a sole Flower Cup course. The length and difficulty of the courses in this cup tend to be on par with those in the Special Cup. In Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, the final track of the Lightning Cup is a past Rainbow Road, very similar to how Special Cup's final course is a new Rainbow Road. The table below lists every track in the Lightning Cup by course order and game installment.

"You'll be glad to see that all four tracks in the Lightning Cup have made a big comeback! All feature updated graphics and all the fun you can handle. And two of them, GCN DK Mountain and N64 Bowser's Castle, offer up all the challenge you can handle!"

In the Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart 7 manuals as well as Mario Power Tennis, the Lightning Cup is called the Thunder Cup.

Sky Garden is the only course to appear in the same cup in two different games. This is due to the Lightning Cup being a nitro cup in Mario Kart: Super Circuit (where Sky Garden first appeared in) and a retro cup in Mario Kart DS (where it appeared as a retro course).

Mario Kart 7 is the only game where the Lightning Cup, as retro cup, didn't have at least one course from Mario Kart 64. In fact, it is the only Retro Cup yet that does not feature a single track from Mario Kart 64.

Likewise, Mario Kart 8 is the only game where the Lightning retro Cup didn't have at least one course from Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.

Since Mario Kart DS:

The first race in the Lightning Cup is a second Star Cup course (except Mario Kart Wii);

The second race is a Special Cup course (except in Mario Kart 8);

The third race of this cup is from 2 games ago. Also since Mario Kart Wii, that race is always a final Star Cup course.